Yet another P180 build - Finished! :)

snq · Post by **snq** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 3:42 pm

JimX wrote:Did you remember to do this?

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/48/14264 ... e3cd00.jpg

I didn't forget, but I didn't cut them

I thought about it but for what I've heard it doesn't make any noticable difference if you have the door closed.
If it turns out these people were wrong I might do it later.

snq · Post by **snq** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 5:03 pm

I got rid of the molex

Much better!

snq · Post by **snq** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 2:21 am

Yay! My parts arrived this morning

So I first filled up the whole system and bled it, to get that over with

Mmmm... These do look nice!

DVD in place

Next I got kind of frustrated because I had to move the harddrives about 6 times because the cables were angled in the wrong direction. So when I finally got them in and connected I forgot to take a pic. I'll show them later

Then it was time for the first test run! I don't have a screen in the basement so I couldn't really tell if it was doing anything, but at least the drives and fans spinned up and it didn't turn off by itself either, which I think is a good sign

Now I am amazed to say that my PSU which I thought was really quiet is actually the loudest part in the system atm, at least with the case open. The Nexus fans are amazing! I can hardly hear them at all. I might put a Nexus in the PSU as well later on

Well that's it for now. I've been up all night (working) and I need sleep. So the real test will have to wait until I wake up

And hopefully by the time I wake up my screen will have arrived as well!

shawn122 · Post by **shawn122** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 3:16 am

angelkiller wrote:This is a very exciting thread, I always find myself checking for updates from snq.

my sentiments exactly...lol.

I bookmarked this thread and check it every day to see if new pics have been uploaded. I may perform these same mods on my own P180 when I get the time.

amjedm · Post by **amjedm** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 3:19 am

shawn122 wrote:
angelkiller wrote:This is a very exciting thread, I always find myself checking for updates from snq.
my sentiments exactly...lol.

I bookmarked this thread and check it every day to see if new pics have been uploaded. I may perform these same mods on my own P180 when I get the time.

I had better add my name to the list as well

snq · Post by **snq** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 10:07 am

Thanks for the flattering comments!

Now that I finally got the stuff, I could take the vidcard from my other PC, as I hopefully won't be needing it for a while.
So here it is then! SATA cables also in place.. Guess if I was happy when I discovered they sent me black cables instead of red as they were on the picture in the shop. Couldn't be better!

And here's the drives then

And the cable to the DVD was angled in the wrong direction, so I came up with this great solution

More good news, everything actually seems to be working

I'm installing windows as we speak!

snq · Post by **snq** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 10:56 am

Posting from the new machine now

So far so good! It's fast as hell (at least compared to my laptop) and temps are great so far.
Cores idle at around 28 degs now after about an hour of installing windows and some other stuff, GPU is around 40. Actually these temps are better than what I had with a $500 watercooling kit from danger den on my x2 3800+

JimX · Post by **JimX** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 11:27 am

Looks amazing! Congrats!

Now I have to redo mine...

snq · Post by **snq** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 12:36 pm

Thanks

Here's some final pics!

Finished, and I could finally rip the plastic off the panels

Temp update, after updating the bios speedstep actually worked and core temps went down 1 degree in idle.. At 100% load (altho only a short while) temps went up to about 34. I'm downloading C&C3 demo to see how it behaves during some gaming

After I closed the case, mobo temp is around 40 degrees with the fans spinning at ~850 rpm. HDD temps are 37 degrees for the Samsung and 41 degrees for the Raptor, that's with only the PSU fan in the lower chamber.

angelkiller · Post by **angelkiller** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 12:44 pm

VERY very nice!! I'm glad everything worked out for you. Amazing system!!

amjedm · Post by **amjedm** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 2:32 pm

It is a very nice system - well done

Some questions (I'm thinking of doing some of the mods you did)

1. Did you do the motherboard header connectors cut with the dremel?
2. The 12v hole you made near the top of the motherboard - was that with a dremel also?
3. Can you please measure the cuts you made to the section above the hard disks?

Thanks.

snq · Post by **snq** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 3:00 pm

Thanks

1. Yes. I made 2 cuts on top of each other, with a couple mm in between. Then I cut away what was left in the middle, and rounded off the edges with a grinder bit.

2. I started with a drill. First a 4mm hole, then 8, then 10. Obviously the connector won't fit thru that small hole. But it has to be really close to the top of the mainboard to get a sleeved cable through there. So I continued downwards and widened a bit to be able to get the connector through.

3. I'd prefer not to open the case again anytime soon, but luckily I remember how I did them

On the top of the floppy bay are 2 square holes, those are the corners in my cuts. On the bottom of it you have to cut a bit narrower to avoid the rivets. I cut to where the line is on the bottom.

Hope this helps

amjedm wrote:It is a very nice system - well done

Some questions (I'm thinking of doing some of the mods you did)

1. Did you do the motherboard header connectors cut with the dremel?
2. The 12v hole you made near the top of the motherboard - was that with a dremel also?
3. Can you please measure the cuts you made to the section above the hard disks?

Thanks.

amjedm · Post by **amjedm** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 1:59 am

One more question, sorry

The rear fan grill - did you remove the entire grill or did you leave a few millimetres around the edges to get a good fit for the "trim"?

Thanks.

snq · Post by **snq** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 1:57 pm

amjedm wrote:One more question, sorry

The rear fan grill - did you remove the entire grill or did you leave a few millimetres around the edges to get a good fit for the "trim"?

Thanks.

I removed all of it, but I should've kept a few mm on the left and right side, which I found out when it was too late

On the left side because there's very little metal remaining once you cut everything away, and on the right side because the side panel won't go on if the cover ends up too close to the edge

amjedm · Post by **amjedm** » Sat Mar 24, 2007 11:55 am

snq wrote:
amjedm wrote:One more question, sorry

The rear fan grill - did you remove the entire grill or did you leave a few millimetres around the edges to get a good fit for the "trim"?

Thanks.
I removed all of it, but I should've kept a few mm on the left and right side, which I found out when it was too late On the left side because there's very little metal remaining once you cut everything away, and on the right side because the side panel won't go on if the cover ends up too close to the edge

Too late

, I've butchered my case, will have to see how things fit.

I went to a local automotive store and they didn't have any of that material you've used.

Wonder if anyone in the UK has managed to find it?

mikeom1 · Post by **mikeom1** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 1:24 pm

Great work snq!

I am hoping to build a PC in the near future very similiar in spec to yours, I was going to wait for the P182 to come out, but your case does look great with superb cable management.

Does anyone know what the "technical" name for the rubber thingy used to protect the molex coming out the back is? I have a certain need for them, I did find some on the ends of a couple of plug sockets but I kinda needed the plugs

[F]bernZ · Post by **[F]bernZ** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 4:22 pm

Wow.

This should deserve front page coverage JUST because of how clean the system looks. This rivals the Cablegami master himself!

snq · Post by **snq** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 3:28 am

mikeom1 wrote:Great work snq!

I am hoping to build a PC in the near future very similiar in spec to yours, I was going to wait for the P182 to come out, but your case does look great with superb cable management.

Does anyone know what the "technical" name for the rubber thingy used to protect the molex coming out the back is? I have a certain need for them, I did find some on the ends of a couple of plug sockets but I kinda needed the plugs

Thanks

I really wanted a P182 as well, but I couldn't wait

Turned out it didn't really matter, the only thing I might've done different with a P182 was run the 24-pin cable behind the mobo.

As for the rubber thingies, I have no idea. This one was attached to the reserators cable. You could buy some new plug sockets and remove everything you don't need

snq · Post by **snq** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 3:41 am

This thread feels kinda incomplete without a pic of the "office". Not the best pic in the world (black case in shadowy area..) but look at the mess under my desk!

It's a bit ironic that the inside of my case (which nobody ever sees) looks neat, and the visible cables look like that

All of them actually go somewhere, I have only 1 power outlet in this room (old house) and it happens to be right underneath my desk, so the whole bedroom is getting its power from here. Meaning TV, clockradio, lamps, phone chargers, you name it and it get its power from here.
My main phone outlet is there as well so I also have my adsl router and switch there, meaning all network cables come out here as well which doesn't exactly make it any tidier...

I'm working on a solution tho, just need to get some supplies so I can start building

snq · Post by **snq** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 6:58 am

Ahhh... Slight improvement?

I moved all the network stuff to the closet, talk about a huge difference!

In case anyone wonders why the fan doors are on top of the case, I'm experimenting a bit to see what gives the best noise/temp ratio. I found that removing those helped quite a bit.
I'm running speedfan now and my fans are at 35% or around 400 rpm most of the time. I did install an extra fan in the lower chamber because the Raptors temp was a bit too high for my likings, and I also replaced the "noisy" PSU fan with a Nexus fan.

The result is that even tho I have 4 fans in the case now (all nexus), they're all at around 400 rpm most of the time, and I can't hear the system over the background noise!

amjedm · Post by **amjedm** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 7:08 am

Looks tidy now

Have you thought about modding the front grill in the lower chamber to put a fan there? Somone's done it (saw a pic the other day) on this forum.

I was thinking of putting a 80x80x15mm fan in the lower section but haven't got round to it.

snq · Post by **snq** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 7:19 am

amjedm wrote:Looks tidy now

Have you thought about modding the front grill in the lower chamber to put a fan there? Somone's done it (saw a pic the other day) on this forum.

I was thinking of putting a 80x80x15mm fan in the lower section but haven't got round to i.

Yea, I probably should've done that.
But I have to borrow or buy a cutting tool, because if I'm going to use the dremel I'll have to tear apart everything because of the mess it leaves. Having the small doors removed doesn't really matter for me because I always have the door closed anyway.
Removing the dust filters helped a lot as well, but I need to have them on because my case will look like a cat inside if I don't use them (I have 3 cats).

I'm running the system at 3 GHz now, or 2 GHz with speedstep kicking in, and these are the temps with the window open for some fresh spring air

It's probably around 18-19 degrees in here. System temp is measured underneath the SB, that's why it's relatively hot. The air coming out of the case doesn't feel warm.

snq · Post by **snq** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 1:37 pm

amjedm wrote:Looks tidy now

Have you thought about modding the front grill in the lower chamber to put a fan there? Somone's done it (saw a pic the other day) on this forum.

I was thinking of putting a 80x80x15mm fan in the lower section but haven't got round to it.

Quoting again

I misread what you wrote.. I only read "modding front grill" and thought you meant cutting those up

Anyway, I tested putting an 80mm nexus in front of the disks and it seems to help quite a bit. I'm running it at ~600 rpm and the raptor doesn't get over 35 degrees even when defragmenting. Before it'd be around 40 when idle, unless the room was cold.

I also changed the speeds of the other fans, they're running at ~550 rpm now. The temps would go over the treshold I set every now and then, and the fans would speed up. Now at these speeds it hasn't gone over the treshold yet, and they don't sound any more than before, or at least I can't tell the difference.

mikeom1 · Post by **mikeom1** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 2:26 pm

It really does look great!

I was just going to ask to see a picture of the Reserator 2 beside the P180 for size comparison, but you have already done it

I might have to use the idea of a fan in the lower section, I was thinking of putting my 2 raptors down there. Currently mine in my Sonata run around 40 when idle, so it's something for me to think about when I build my new PC.

snq · Post by **snq** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 2:11 am

mikeom1 wrote:It really does look great!

I was just going to ask to see a picture of the Reserator 2 beside the P180 for size comparison, but you have already done it

I might have to use the idea of a fan in the lower section, I was thinking of putting my 2 raptors down there. Currently mine in my Sonata run around 40 when idle, so it's something for me to think about when I build my new PC.

Thanks

I should add, it was just the raptor that was running a bit warm. The T166 was fine without the extra fan, it'd idle at around 32-33 degrees.

I left plenty of space around the raptor because I knew it'd be a bit warmer than the T166 but perhaps my thinking was wrong here?
The front disk on this pic is the T166 and the rear disk is the raptor.

Here's the temps with the 80mm fan and the new speed settings, this is right after an hour of playing C&C3

I have no idea why the lower middle fan is slower than the case fans even at the same speed. Maybe the upper fans are helping each other spin a bit faster?

Aleksi · Post by **Aleksi** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 6:21 am

Nice system, very nice and clean work.

kakazza · Post by **kakazza** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 11:49 am

Hi,

I've got a few questions related to your system.

1) Is your NB and SB ok with the AC applied or would you recommend buying the Zalman NB watercooler? Temperature-wise.

2) Is your gfx-card ok without VRAM coolers?

3) Is that a Dell 2407WFP? If so, A03 or A04?

4) How much did you spend on your system in total so far?

snq · Post by **snq** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 12:07 pm

kakazza wrote:Hi,

I've got a few questions related to your system.

1) Is your NB and SB ok with the AC applied or would you recommend buying the Zalman NB watercooler? Temperature-wise.

2) Is your gfx-card ok without VRAM coolers?

3) Is that a Dell 2407WFP? If so, A03 or A04?

4) How much did you spend on your system in total so far?

Hi

1) At idle the SB is the warmest bit in the system, it's usually around 43-45 degrees. The NB seems to be a bit colder because of the better cooling solution, altho I can only tell by touching the heatsinks, I don't have any actual data but they feel a lot colder than the SB heatsink.
I might change the cooling on it one day, but I'll see how it behaves during the summer.

2) It seems fine so far, no errors! I was going to put ramsinks on it but I discovered I only had 4 left so then I didn't

3) It's a 3007WFP-HC actually

4) I don't know exactly, but about $2000 for the screen and about the same for all the other stuff together. The only things I didn't buy new were keyboard, mouse, and videocard.

snq · Post by **snq** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 12:25 pm

A funny thing happened today btw

I was showing some pics to a friend, because he was curious about the inside. When he had seen what he wanted to see he asks me: "So this fan I saw on one of the pics, is that running now?"
You should've seen his face when I told him there were 5 fans running

Mission accomplished I guess, the PC is quiet! My friend couldn't even tell that any fans were running, he assumed the reserator did all the cooling because the only noise he heard was the raptors seeking noise every now and then

mikeom1 · Post by **mikeom1** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 2:50 am

haha I wish my PC ran that quiet

I was actually wondering how you found the board layout of the Asus P5W DH Deluxe? I am debating between the Asus P5B Deluxe and P5W DH at the moment, and seeing as my new system would be so similiar to yours I thougth best to ask about your experiences with the board and layout.